Republicans of Pennsylvania

Submitted by Anne Julienne (Australia), Apr 28, 2016 at 01:31

April 26 is now behind us and the Republicans of Pennsylvania - brought up in Daniel's last paragraph - have now decided: roughly 60% for Trump and 20% each for Cruz and Kasich.

This represents, I think, a real crisis for democracy. However much one may dislike Trump, the people are having their say and it's pretty clear that they like him. Are "the people" right? Are the intellectual elite (of which Daniel is a member) *more* right?

I'm prepared to own up to being an intellectual snob myself. If I had my way, no one would be able to vote unless they could answer one or two simple questions like: who is the current political leader in this election? who is the leader of the opposition? what parties do they represent?

Here in Australia, voting is compulsory - which I hate! I've watched as hijab-wearing women are shown how to vote by what appears to be their husband, brother, father, even son. I don't want to compete with that so I submit what we call here a "donkey vote", a blank ballot paper. It's my way of saying the whole process is a mess and I don't want to be a part of it anymore.

On the other hand, I have to add that Trump keeps being labelled a "demagogue" with full derogatory overtones. In ancient Greece, a demagogue was a fine fellow, giving "voice" to the aspirations and concerns of those with little or no voice. This is what Trump is doing, after all.

There is simply no neat black or white in all of this.

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